Common Name: NASTURTIUM FAMILY
Habit: Annual, perennial herb, +- fleshy, generally +- glabrous; often twining by petioles; roots tuber-like or not. Stem: prostrate. Leaf: generally simple, generally alternate, peltate [(or not)]; blade << petiole, entire, toothed, lobed, or dissected, veins generally palmate; stipules often 0. Inflorescence: flower generally 1 on long, axillary pedicel. Flower: showy, bisexual, generally bilateral; sepals 5, uppermost (adaxial) generally long-spurred; petals generally 5, clawed, upper 2 unlike lower 3; stamens 8, in 2 whorls, unequal; ovary superior, lobes 3, chambers 3, placentas axile, style 1, >> ovary, 3-parted near tip, stigmas 3. Fruit: separating into 3 generally nut-like, 1-seeded segments (= mericarps).
Genera In Family: 1 genus, +- 90 species: Mexico to South America; some cultivated.
Unabridged Note: 2 additional stamens opposite petals +- abortive.
eFlora Treatment Author: Robert E. Preston & Elizabeth McClintock
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.